Workshop “Forgotten Conflicts: The Civil Wars in Sudan and Yemen”

Over the past few years, we have understandably witnessed a lot of media attention for the war in the Gaza Strip, in which Israel killed more than 70,000 Palestinians after being attacked by a coalition of militant Palestinian groups that killed some 1,200 people in Israel.

At the same time, two conflicts in broadly the same region have gone largely unnoticed: Sudan and Yemen. In the former country, government forces have fought the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group – descended from the earlier Janjaweed paramilitary forces – since 2023.

This civil war, in which both parties control part of the country and in which foreign forces like Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also involved, has already led to some 150,000 deaths and millions of refugees.

The situation in Yemen, meanwhile, has been unstable for decades. On top of enduring poverty and drug trafficking, the country has had to cope with the influence of Al-Qaida, grave political instability and, most recently, a civil war in which major regional powers like Iran and Saudi Arabia have been involved and in which the Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebels have successfully taken over large parts of the country, including the capital.

How have these conflicts developed and what are possible solutions? What role have foreign powers played in these civil wars and how can they help to bring them to an end? Both conflicts are dominated by militias.

What role do they play in such conflicts and why do they use such violent means of protesting the powers that be in their respective countries? Why do the civil wars in Sudan and Yemen not get the attention that they deserve?

This event is a collaboration between two components of the Research Institute Philosophy and Religious Studies (OFR): the section for Islamic & Arabic Studies and the Focus Area for Migration and Societal Change and the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies (NISIS).